Kenneth Branagh
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Kenneth Branagh

Acting

Biography

Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. His accolades include an Academy Award, four BAFTAs, two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Olivier Award. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 2012 and was given Freedom of the City in his native Belfast in 2018. In 2020, he was ranked in 20th place on The Irish Times's list of Ireland's greatest film actors.

Branagh has directed and starred in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays, including Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Othello (1995), Hamlet (1996), and As You Like It (2006). He was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Director for Henry V and Best Adapted Screenplay for Hamlet. He directed Swan Song (1992), which earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. He also directed Peter's Friends (1992), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Thor (2011), and Cinderella (2015). For his semi-autobiographical film Belfast (2021), he was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Director and won Best Original Screenplay.

Branagh directed and starred as Hercule Poirot in the Hercule Poirot film series (2017–present). He has also acted in Celebrity (1998), Wild Wild West (1999), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), and Valkyrie (2008). His portrayal of Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn (2011) earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He played supporting roles in Christopher Nolan's films Dunkirk (2017), Tenet (2020), and Oppenheimer (2023).

Branagh has starred in the BBC1 series Fortunes of War (1987), the Channel 4 series Shackleton (2002), the television film Warm Springs (2005), and the BBC One series Wallander (2008–2016). He received a Primetime Emmy Award and an International Emmy Award for Best Actor for portraying SS leader Reinhard Heydrich in the HBO film Conspiracy (2001).

Films Featuring Kenneth Branagh

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

20027.7

The Road to El Dorado

20007.3

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

19946.4

Valkyrie

20087.0

Hamlet

19967.3

It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein

19947.7

Henry V

19897.1

Sleuth

20076.3

Peter's Friends

19926.6

Dead Again

19916.4

Much Ado About Nothing

19936.9

Wild Wild West

19995.3

Celebrity

19986.0

Chariots of Fire

19816.8

Rabbit-Proof Fence

20027.0

Conspiracy

20017.3

The Gingerbread Man

19985.6

Walking with Monsters

20057.3

How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog

20025.9

A Month in the Country

19876.5

Othello

19956.4

Five Children and It

20045.6

Warm Springs

20056.6

IMAX: Galapagos 3D

19996.6

The Periwig-Maker

19997.6

The Boat That Rocked

20097.2

Love's Labour's Lost

20005.5

My Week with Marilyn

20116.7

The Theory of Flight

19996.3

Mayday

2026

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story

20106.8

A Haunting in Venice

20236.6

High Season

19875.1

London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder

20127.7

Ghosts

19877.0

Universal Horror

19987.1

Stars in Shorts

20126.0

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

20146.1

Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence

Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence

20038.0

Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba

20227.3

The Magic Touch of Harry Potter

20047.7

Discovering Hamlet

20117.5

National Theatre Live: Macbeth

20137.0

Shadow of a Gunman

19957.0

The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs

The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs

20007.1

Look Back in Anger

19899.3

Discovering Hamlet

19905.9

Looking for Richard

19966.8

1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year

20097.5

Easter 2016

19829.0

Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces

20006.8

Alien Love Triangle

20086.7

Oppenheimer

20238.0

The Proposition

19985.9

Schneider's 2nd Stage

Schneider's 2nd Stage

200110.0

Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out

20078.0

Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe

20146.9

Denzel Washington: A Model American

20227.0

As You Like It

20065.8

The Dance of Shiva

19989.0

Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale

20157.7

The King of Kings

20258.3

Dunkirk

20177.4

Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic

20046.5

Murder on the Orient Express

20176.7

Coming Through

19854.7

Anne Frank Remembered

19957.6

The Tramp and the Dictator

20027.0

A Coming to Terms for Billy

19847.0

A Matter of Choice for Billy

19836.0

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope

20116.9

The Book That Wrote Itself

20007.0

Prodigal

20115.6

Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer

20163.5

To the Lighthouse

19835.2

The Lady's Not For Burning

198710.0

Swing Kids

19936.7

Mindhorn

20166.1

Death on the Nile

20226.4

Triumph of the Beasts

200110.0

The Beasts Within

20019.0

Avengers: Infinity War

20188.2

All Is True

20186.1

A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers

20096.7

A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics

20098.0

Too Late to Talk to Billy

19827.0

Lorna

19879.0

James Ellis: An Actor's Life

2007

Tenet

20207.2

Lost Lives

20196.0

Thor: From Asgard to Earth

20117.0

It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West'

19995.0

Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies

Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies

19996.0

Wild Wild West: Evil Devices

19994.0

Fireheart

20227.2

Thames Wallah

1988

Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’

20206.3

Altman on His Own Terms

20009.0

Atonement

2026

The Devil Wears Prada 2

20267.1

The Thomas Crown Affair

2027

Symphony for the Spire

19928.5

Goblin

Goblin

The Goebbels Experiment

20056.4

Tea with Judi Dench featuring Kenneth Branagh

2025

Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean

2026

The Devil Wears Prada 2 Red Carpet World Premiere

20266.5